Love My Way
by BeachBlonde393
Summary: When a new transfer student arrives from America, she has the Hogwarts boys interest...especially Ronald Weasley. This is a story about finding love in new situations. Rated Mature for future possibilities. OOC.
1. New Start

Lana Hamilton stepped into her empty train compartment on September first, her heart twisted. She set her cats case down beside her and hung her newly bought robes on the shelf above her seat. She felt more alone than she had ever felt in her whole life, even her first day of muggle private school.

She glanced out of the window and could see her parents stepping back through the barrier. She silenced the need to let out a stream of profanities. To put the situation simply, Lana was not happy about transferring schools to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not Happy is actually quite an understatement. Lana loathed her new situation.

Two months earlier, she was a very happy, normal young witch excited about entering her final year at Brizindine Academy for Enhancing the Magical Arts. It was a top magic school in the United States located in the very warm state of California. She was quite popular with her group of girlfriends. With her long blonde hair and dark brown eyes, she had boys licking her shoes. With the war rising, her father was reassigned to head of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol section of the Ministry. It was a rather large promotion salary wise, so he had no complaints. Lana sure had a couple hundred, though.

They were moved into their new town home in London by the next week. Through the remainder of the summer, she felt like a complete loser. She was holed up inside of her home with her younger brother, Hunter, and her mother, who had recently changed interests from shopping to knitting while staying glued to the news. She attempted to find a new friend by taking a stroll through her neighborhood, but the closest person to her age was seven.

Lana was trying to retain an appearance of positive hope, but she was scared out of her mind about a new school and her father working in even more dangerous conditions. She had had the same friends since she was eight. They were also finding less and less time to write to her. Lana just couldn't see her life going up.

The train lurched forward as it started to roll, she could here voices outside of her compartment, and she was slightly relieved that no one had opened hers. She almost wished she could remain that invisible for the remainder of the school year. She wanted to get through it as quickly as possible, so she could move back to California on her own.

An hour into the ride, Lana was stolen from her train of thought when a boy and a girl opened her compartment door. "Because Ronald, as a prefect you are to set an example, not make bets to see which first year you can get to wet their pants first," The girl steamed at the boy. This girl wasn't exceptionally pretty, but she had an air that glowed from within her that made her beautiful. She had wavy brown hair and matching brown eyes. Her skin was perfectly clear. She had a few inches over Lana. Lana was a petite 5'2" and this girl was around 5'6" it looked. Both girls were very curvy, though.

The boy standing next to her was at least two heads taller. He stood at around 6'4". He could have been very lanky if it weren't for the lean, toned muscles coming out of his sleeve. He had very noticeable red hair and even more noticeable brilliant blue eyes.

"I'm sorry if we are disturbing you, but as Head Girl and prefects it is our duty to inspect compartments and hallways. We saw you by yourself in here and just wanted to check that everything was alright. I am Hermione Granger. This is Ronald Weasley. Are you new?" Hermione stepped into the compartment and sat across from Lana, Ron stayed in the doorway.

"Yes, this is my first year," Lana felt the butterflies find their way into he stomach. Her hands began to get damp.

"You look a little old to be a first year," Ron said, his voice made Lana snap towards him. She had almost forgotten he was there.

"Ron! You can't just tell people that kind of stuff. I'm sorry, he's never grown up," Hermione smiled kindly.

"It's okay. I didn't mean I'm a first year. I am a seventh, I just transferred from America," Lana glanced at Ron to see what he would say.

"Of course, explaining the lack of an accent," Hermione nodded. "Well, we best be off, I hope your sorted into Gryffindor. Enjoy the rest of your ride."

"The snack trolley comes in a bit," Ron added.

"Is food all you think about," Lana heard Hermione getting on to him as they left. They were quite the couple. She wondered how he could stand dating someone who yelled at them all of the time. 'Hermione seemed nice though,' she thought.

The trolley did arrive within the next hour and Lana purchased a package of pumpkin pasties, which lasted her through the remaining ride. As soon as she saw the massive peaks of Hogwarts towers, Lana had to press her face to the window. Her old school was nothing to the impressiveness of Hogwarts.

She quickly pulled on her school robes and filed out of her compartment with her cat, Sylvie. She handed her cat over to a small man outside of the train and walked over to where the first years were standing. She was informed in her letter that she was to go through the introduction ceremony as if she were really a first year.

Lana crossed the star-flecked black lake in her own boat at the back and then lined up with the pitifully small first years outside of two large oak doors. A rather old, stern looking woman arrived in deep green robes.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. I am deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House, Professor McGonagall. I will be teaching your Transfiguration class. Now, when we walk through these doors, I would prefer you all to remain quiet until you have joined your house tables. Understood?" She gave everyone the eye that any child would obey. "Now, Miss Hamilton. You are to remain in the back, as you will go last. Well, follow me."

She pushed open the large doors and everyone immediately followed. Lana's jaw dropped as she walked inside. Her old school was definitely nothing compared to this Great Hall. She glanced around at the students and suddenly realized all eyes on her. She looked from table to table and saw boys staring and girls whispering back and forth. She came to a stop at the front of the room behind the first years. They were huddled around a stool with a very large, old hat on it.

(at the Gryffindor table)

"You might want to close your mouth, Ron. You'll catch stupidity," Ginny said. She was sitting across from Ron, next to Harry.

"Isn't she the most breathtaking thing you've ever seen," He gaped.

"Talking about McGonagall again, Ron?" Harry joked.

"No, he's talking about that new beauty up there," said Seamus who was also staring. "I've never seen a girl like that before."

"She's American," Hermione said. "And by the looks on you guys faces, I expect she is part veela."

"She's not that different from the girls we have here. Her odds and ends look the same to me," Dean added.

"The only thing that makes her different is that Ron has a thing for blondes," Ginny smirked.

"She's just transferred, you know?" Ron said airily.

"Yes, we've discovered that already," Harry laughed.

"Ron, don't act like your in love already. You don't even know her name yet," Hermione jabbed.

The hall quieted the small whispers as Lana stepped up to the stool when her name was called.

"Students, we have a new student this year. She has transferred to us from the Brizindine Academy in America. I'm sure everyone will do their best to make her feel welcome," Dumbledore announced before the hat was placed on her head.

"Gryffindor!" It shouted as soon as it touched her hair. Lana stood up and took a seat next to the first years who were also sorted into Gryffindor. She glanced down the table nervously and saw the two people she met on the train. Hermione waved her down so she stood up and walked down to where the group was sitting.

"Congratulations. You were sorted into the best house," Hermione smiled and made room for Lana to sit between her and Ron.

"That's right! We're taking the Quidditch Cup again this year lads!" Seamus yelled raising his glass.

"That loud Irish boy is Seamus Finnegan. He's our year. The boy across from him is Dean Thomas," Hermione pointed the two out.

"I'm Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister. I'm a sixth year," Ginny reached her hand across the table and shook hands with Lana. "And this loud talker is Harry Potter."

"Yeah, I've heard of him," Lana smiled.

"Really," a voice squeaked nervously from next to her. "They know about him all the way in America?" Ron asked.

"Well, Everyone knows of him. He made history," Lana giggled inwardly at his nervousness.

"We never caught your name by the way," Hermione said.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Lana Hamilton," Julie smiled. "So are you two dating?" She asked pointing at Ginny and Harry.

Ginny smiled, "Yep, I know right, how did this nerd land me?" Ginny fluffed up Harry's hair.

Lana laughed, "And are you two dating?" She pointed at Ron and Hermione this time. Hermione broke out into a fit of laughter.

"Please, we would kill each other if we dated," Hermione said, but Lana noticed her eyes move towards another table across the room.

"So, how do you like England?" Ron asked. His eyes were locked on hers.

"To be honest I haven' had that good of a time. I don' know where anything is in London, and I haven't met anyone my age, until now," Lana said and took a sip from her now full glass. The food had just appeared.

"We will just have to show you a good time, then," Ron smiled and filled up his own plate.

The rest of the meal consisted of small talk and Lana informing everyone what America was really like. It took her a good ten minutes to explain that it wasn't really the size of Asia. She followed the group up to the common room. She instantly fell in love with the coziness of the room and knew that she would get use out of the couch in front of the fire place.

When Hermione went upstairs for bed, Lana followed her and said good night to everyone, Ron leaving her an unusual glance.


	2. First Morning

A loud BOOM resonated in the circular girls dormitory. Lana snapped awake and sat up, glancing around the room, looking for the creator of the sound. A soft pitter-patter was knocking at the window and she sighed relief at the sound of rain. She laid back down and attempted to fall back asleep, but it never came to her.

Lana slipped her feet over the side of her bed and tip-toed to the door and down the spiral staircase. She could feel the heat from the fire as she entered the common room and curled up on the couch in front of it.

She frowned as the fire sparked old memories inside of her head. Lana used to make fires in her old room back in California, and share stories and gossip with her best friend, Audrey. That was the hardest part about moving for her, losing Audrey. They both promised to write twice a week. Lana was the only one who followed with that agreement. Apparently, Audrey became acquainted with their long time enemy, Ashley, and began hanging with her crew. Lana hadn't received a letter from Audrey in three weeks.

Lana's train of thought ended as the weight on the couch shifted.

"Can't sleep either?" Ron said.

Lana sat up and smiled, "No, the storm woke me up."

"Yeah, me too. It always gets real cold up there when it rains."

It suddenly got awkwardly quiet in the room as both of them drifted into their own thoughts. Awkward as it was, there still was a sense of comfortableness between the two.

"So," Ron began. "Lana's not your every day name. Where'd your parents get it from?"

"Well, neither is Hermione, but Lana was my mom's favorite actress when she was growing up," Lana explained.

"Oh, from like plays, or those muggle things?" Ron's eyes would focus on his hands when he talked and he would stare at her as she spoke.

"Those muggle things," Lana giggled.

"You have a nice laugh," Ron smiled.

"Oh, thanks," Lana blushed.

"So, is there a umm, boyfriend in your life?" Ron was looking at his hands again.

"There was," The heat of the fire licked Lana's face.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

"Well, I'm not a long-distance relationship girl so we ended it. I also heard that he has taken a liking to one of my old friends," she was speaking of Audrey.

"I'm sorry," Ron said sympathetically.

Lana smiled at his kindness, "Don't be. It wasn't ever very serious."

"Have you ever been serious?" Ron's eyes bulged as soon as he said it. "I'm sorry, that was too forward of me."

"It was a bit forward, but it's alright. The answer is no," Lana said.

A hint of a smile glinted in Ron's face. Lana yawned and stood up. "I think I'm ready to try and sleep again. Thanks for the company, Ron."

"Anytime," Ron smiled. Lana fell back asleep quite easily this time, but was shortly awoken again.

"Morning Lana, your going to miss breakfast if you keep sleeping," Hermione said ripping the covers off of her.

"Uhhh. It feels like I just went to bed," Lana sat up and wiped her face.

"Try an awakening spell. It usually freshens me right up," Lavender flounced right by Lana's bed with a smug look on her face.

"As much as I hate to say this, she is right," Hermione smiled. Lana used the spell and instantly felt like she had just awoken from a year of sleep. She also used her own make up spell and hair spell to make herself look like herself. Her uniform was at the foot of her bed and she slipped it on.

"You know, you should stick with me and Parvati. We can help show you around and introduce you to some boys," Lavender came out of the bathroom and sized Lana up as she stood in front of her.

"No thanks, Hermione's already offered," Julie smiled as sweetly as she could fake.

"Actually Ron's already offered Lana. He said he couldn't wait to teach you as much as he could," Hermione stood with her arms folded. Lana took a mental note to never piss off Hermione. She had a look on her face that looked like she would kill you in a seconds notice. Lavender made a "tehh" sound as she steamed out of the girls dorm.

"Lavender went out with Ron last year, but they never had anything other than a physical relationship. She was ridiculously jealous. I fed her that bit to keep her away from you. Trust me, she's not the type you want to get to know," Hermione led Lana out of the door and they headed down the stairs. Harry, Ginny, and Ron were waiting on them.

"Lavender just gave me the ugliest look as she left. Did something happen up there?" Ron asked as they headed out of the portrait.

"No idea," Hermione smirked. "So, it looks like we have charms first with Hufflepuff today."

"Ughh, I have potions first," said Ginny. Harry and her were walking a step behind everyone else, holding hands. As they reached the doors, a group of Slytherins were huddled together in the hallway. A tall boy with blonder hair than Lana had stood in the middle, holding his wrist.

"Is there a problem," Hermione marched right into the middle of them.

"It's none of your business, mudblood," Pansy shot at her. "Drakey, let me take you to the hospital wing alright."

"I will not allow you to miss your first class. As Headgirl, I will escort Draco to Madame Pompfrey," Hermione pushed Draco out of the crowd and offered a weak smile to Lana. "I'll meet you guys later. Now what happened exactly, Draco?" Hermione walked back up the stairs and the rest of them went into the Great Hall.

"Lana, what's your last name again?" Ginny asked over the mornings copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Hamilton," Ron answered at the exact same time as Lana and blushed. "Why?"

"Well, I believe your dad is on the cover of the Prophet," Ginny handed her the paper and sure enough there was a large photo of her dad in the middle of a speech in the middle of the ministry's atrium. The headline read 'Is Gene Hamilton really the one to save us all?' The article went on to talk about how her dad was introducing a new form of safety for families by mixing concealing charms with cloaking spells. It also ended with the note that his next project would be how to keep Fenrir Greyback away from your children.

"I wonder if our dad's know each other. I'll write to mine and ask. He works at the ministry as well," Ron said through shoving bites of bacon into his mouth. Before anyone could respond, Lavender flounced herself down right beside him.

"Hello Ron, it's been such a long summer since I've last seen you," She tossed her hair over one shoulder. "You've seemed to fill out quite a bit during that time." Ron made a couple of blubbering sounds, not really knowing what to say.

Lavender placed her hand on his forearm, "I was wondering, maybe later tonight, you could meet me out on the Quidditch pitch and we could, you know, get back to where we left off."

"Left off my ass," Ginny huffed. "Ron dumped you, Lavender. He doesn't want to see you."

"I think Ron can answer for himself, Ginny. You can't control everything your brother does," Lavender stared at Ginny with death eyes.

"And you can't speak to my sister like that, you pig," Ron spoke up.

"What if I do, Ron. What if I just stay right here, your not going to do anything about it," Lavender removed her hand from his forearm and placed it on his thigh.

"He may not, but I will," Lana stood up and pointed her wand at Lavender's face.

"Your going to curse me are you?" Lavender slowly stood as well.

"Yes. Furnunculus," As soon as Lana said it, large boils popped their way out of the pores in Lavender's face. Lavender grabbed her bag and ran off screaming, trying to cover her face with a book.

"Nice one, Lana," Ginny laughed as several fourth year girls applauded from the Hufflepuff table.


	3. First Day

As Harry, Ron, and Lana entered Flitwick's classroom, Hermione was already seated at a table. Lana grabbed the seat next to her while Ron and Harry sat at the table in front of them. 

"You missed quite a show, Hermione" Harry said, taking out his book.

"Yeah, Lana made Lavender run off crying," Ron was beaming.

Hermione looked shocked, "Really? What did she do now?"

"She was just playing games, trying to make me jealous or something by flirting with Ron," Lana replied.

"Were you jealous?" Ron blurted out.

"Oh um...," Lana turned her head away as Flitwick entered the class. She was saved just in time. If Ron saw her face at that second he would see how red she turned.

"Okay students, welcome back! Please take out your textbooks and open to chapter seven. We will have an easy first day and simply re-practice the disillusionment charm. Now, pair up and try and cast it so that only the two of you can see each other, while no one else can."

Hermione and Lana walked to the back corner of the room and took out their wands. On the count of three, they swirled their wands and said the spell. They were the first group to get the spell done correctly.

"Well done, girls! As a reward, I will let you two be done for the day. You are free to leave," Flitwick clapped his hands and scooted them out the door leaving Ron and Harry groaning on the other side of the room.

"Are classes all that easy?" Lana asked as they headed back for the common room.

"No, we got very lucky. Just wait for potions," Hermione put her wand back into her robe.

"So, Hermione, can I ask you a question, and you won't get mad?" Lana asked as they rounded the corner into the stairwell.

Hermione laughed, "I can't promise anything. But, we are friends, so I most likely won't get mad at you."

"Okay well, I was just wondering what exactly is going on with you and that Draco guy?"

Hermione stopped dead in her tracks and gasped, "H-How did you know?"

"Hermione, Ron and Harry may be deaf and blind, but I'm a girl. I notice how you looked at him in the hallway."

"Shit," Hermione continued walking again. "Well, you promise you won't tell anybody."

"Of course I won't," Lana replied.

"Alright, well, we are kind of seeing each other, secretly," Hermione blushed scarlet red. "We had prefect patrols together last year, and well, yeah."

"I think it is sweet, Hermione. I promise I won't tell Harry and Ron," Lana put her arm around Hermione comfortingly and the two girls stepped through the Gryffindor common room entrance.

Ginny was sitting at the far table doing some kind of work. She looked up as they came over. "What's wrong with you, Hermione? You look like you've been choking."

"Uh, it was my fault. I'm not particularly good at charms. Just cast a bad spell and Flitwick let us go early," Lana lied.

"Snape really loaded us down the first day. I have to write a three thousand word essay and turn it in to him before breakfast tomorrow. Sorry, but you guys will not be graced with my presence at dinner tonight," Ginny's face already had stress written across it.

Lana was suddenly shoved to the ground as a fourth year knocked into her.

"Oi!" Ginny yelled after the boy, but it was too late. He was out of the portrait. "He must be rushing to Quidditch tryouts. The team is looking for a new beater."

"That means Harry will be out late tonight. Sounds like we are all missing dinner. I've got head girl duties tonight," Hermione said. Lana noticed Hermione's eyes sparkled as she spoke about her night. Lana's own eyes popped as realization thudded into her head. This meant she would be eating with Ron, alone.

"I'm going to go get a shower," Lana said almost in a daze. Her mind had lost any form of a thought other than what she was going to wear. As soon as she got to the girl's stairs she raced as fast as she could up them.

"Looks like her and your brother will be alone tonight at dinner," Hermione smirked and sat down.

Ginny looked up and smiled, "Oh how I wish I could be there to see Lavender's face. Hermione, what happened with you and Ron? I thought you liked him. I figured you would be the one interested in my brother this year."

Hermione thought back. She had liked Ron deeply, "I don't know, Gin. Things just sort of changed after he went out with Lavender. Seeing him be whipped around by her and walking in on them making out all of the time really just turned me off of him."

"Yeah, even Mum was disappointed in him," Ginny said.

"Well, I guess I need to kind of get going. I wanted to check a few things out of the library and then I need to get to my Headgirl stuff," Hermione grabbed her bag off of the table and whipped it over her shoulders as she stood up.

"Alright, see you later then," Ginny said and dipped her quill in her ink bottle.

"Right, good luck on your essay, Gin," Hermione walked out of the common room.

Upstairs, Lana climbed out of her shower with her towel wrapped around her and stood in front of her mirror. She grabbed her wand and used a small spell to dry and straighten her hair. Preferring to do her makeup herself, She applied only a small amount of mascara and lip gloss to her face.

Satisfied she went to her trunk by her bed and pulled out a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, and a red zip-up hoodie. She didn't want to look over dressed.

It was still a little early for dinner, so Lana walked to the Owlery to mail a letter to her parents. She had given up on mailing her friends.

_Dear Mom and Dad,  
I hope all is well at home. My first day of school went nicely. I only had one class today, and my partner in the class and I did so well on our disillusionment charm we got to leave early. I've made a few friends already. Harry Potter is one of them. He is a very nice guy, not at all like the paper makes him seem. Well, if you have received any mail for me would you please send it here, rather than saving it for me. I would really appreciate it.  
I love and miss you all. Sylvie says hi. _

_Lana_

Lana attached the letter to one a brown small owl and turned out of the Owlery. As she reached the bottom of the stairs and headed back towards the school she spotted a huddle of boys dressed in red and gold coming her way. In the middle of the pack was Ron towering over the smaller kids. Lana waved and smiled.

"Hey Lana," Ron called as they got closer. He broke out of the group and ran to her. "What are you doing out here?"

"I went to mail a letter to my parents. How were try-outs?"

"They went pretty smoothly. Harry found a pretty good addition to the team. He is going to be training the poor kid almost all night. I couldn't make it. I had to go get some dinner," Ron patted his stomach as the two walked together towards the school doors.

Lana giggled, "Well, it is going to be just us at dinner. Ginny has an essay for Snape and Hermione has to do her Headgirl stuff."

Ron's stomach jumped, "Uh umm, well cool."

"Yeah," Lana smiled.

"You look very nice by the way," Ron pushed open the doors to the great hall. Lana's smile widened and the pair found a seat at the end of the table, far from Lavender who happened to be staring intensely at them.

"So when's the first game?" Lana asked.

"Next week, can you believe it's that early? It will be against Ravenclaw. Harry is kind of going crazy with training," Ron was in the process of filling his plate as he talked. It was quite amusing to watch. Both of his hands were going crazy to make sure he didn't miss putting everything on his plate.

"Well, I will be looking forward to watch you play," Lane half smiled and Ron stopped his eating ritual.

"You are?" He looked as if Lana had just flashed him. His eyes filled with excitement and wonder.

"Yes, Hermione has told me how good you are. She said you are the best keeper at Hogwarts."

"She did?" Ron mumbled.

Lana just giggled and grabbed a spoonful of mashed potatoes. Ron slowly began eating still in a daze, but the process of putting food in his mouth seemed to wake him up.

"So, what is fun to do here? I mean, besides Quidditch," Lana asked. She was trying to think of questions to ask him.

"Well, later on we get to take weekend trips to the town up the road called Hogsmeade. They have shops and restaurants," Ron said. "And in the summer everyone is outside playing and swimming. But, mostly we just kind of make our own fun you know."

"At Brizindine, we got to go to the local mall any time during the week, but only as long as we did not have a detention for the week. We also had an indoor swimming pool," Lana still had vivid images of shopping with Audrey in the mall and splashing her boyfriend in the pool.

"So coming here isn't much of a change then is it," Ron laughed.

"Yeah, but I like it here," Lana smiled. "Change is good sometimes, you know."

Ron's cheeks flushed again and he stuffed his mouth with more food awkwardly.

"I do miss swimming," Lana sighed as she ate bite of her broccoli.

"Well, I think I can help you out with that," Ron said through bites.

"Really?" Lana wondered, washing down her latest bite with pumpkin juice. "How?"

Ron grinned widely, "I'll show you after dinner."

The two finished their meal and carried on mild conversation. Lana eating slightly at a faster speed. "All done?" Ron asked with the remains of his last bite lingering on his face.

"Mmm, yes. I am quite full. You have a bit of pie on your chin by the way," Lana reached up with her napkin and wiped it off.

"Thanks," Ron blushed and stood up.


End file.
